The Commuter

"NON-STOP 2“. Am Anfang ist der Film wieder vielversprechend geheimnisvoll. Im Laufe der Zeit ertrinkt er aber im seltsamen Verhalten fast aller Figuren. Und Liam Neeson hat er wahrscheinlich auch nicht besonders Spaß gemacht. Um einen großen Pluspunkt hat sich die fantastische "Gitarristen“-Prügelei gekümmert, um einen großen Minuspunkt das digitale Finale, das eigentlich kein Finale war. (19.01.2018)

Ein überraschend schlimmer Thriller (wenn man bedenkt, dass er einen zweiten Non-Stop versprach), der nicht nur wegen einer inkonsistenten Handlungslogik nicht funktioniert, sondern auch noch die Prügeleien für die heutige Zeit unakzeptabel digitalisiert und unrealistisch präsentiert. Auch im Rahmen einer Genre-Unterhaltung bietet er außer dem Gesicht von Liam Neeson und einem Casting-Witz für Film-Geeks (das Duo Patrick Wilson und Vera Farmiga aus der Conjuring-Serie) nichts Hochwertiges an. (07.02.2018)

The standard Liam Neeson reunites with director Jaume Collet-Serra in a suspenseful thriller that is fun to watch but unfortunately doesn't bring much new to the table. It bothers me a bit that every new Liam film, is actually exactly the same as the previous one. Non-Stop was set on a plane, The Commuter takes place on a train, and the plot is more or less similar, except that I found Non-Stop more entertaining and its denouement more surprising, whereas here I found out all too soon. Too many similarities for my taste, as if they didn't know how to handle the script. That said, the train derailment is solid and Liam still manages the smaller fights, so it's still above average, but it could have been more creative. 70% (08.02.2018)

Liam Neeson gets on the train in a pretty bad mood, and it's about to get worse when he finds out that Vera Farmiga has manipulated him into a conspiracy in which his neck is on the line. And not just him. The Commuter is a solid action flick, and exactly what you'd expect from the makers of Unknown and Non-Stop. But you can tell they're running out of ideas. It still paces pretty well and you get exactly what you expect in the cinema, but not a tad more. I quite enjoyed it, but I would have liked to see Neeson and director Jaume Collet-Serra move on to other projects and maybe even genres. They don't have much to offer here anymore. (26.07.2018)

Liam Neeson and Jaume Collet-Serra have met on the screen for the fourth time already and yet again, I can’t get enough of it. A perfect small-scale film with an inventive script that uses a train the good old Agatha Christie way and offers a gripping plot with a solid unravelling. And since Liam is a champ for his age and Jaume can work well with CGI, you’re up for a rollercoaster full of adrenaline. It might reek of special effects, but I didn’t mind that one bit. Great camera angles brilliantly capture the action scenes and doesn’t start shaking as soon as Liam look at it the wrong way. It created so much adrenaline that it was hard for me to lower my blood pressure back to normal after watching the movie. (13.09.2018)